As AI workloads soar and increase the need for data centres, an Indian space tech start-up is gearing up to facilitate a Data Centre (DC) in space.
Space tech start-up Agnikul Cosmos now has the capabilities to host space-based data centres via its extendable upper stage, and in its first commercial agreement, Agnikul is partnering with cloud company NeevCloud to help the latter host their AI SuperCloud platform in space, businessline has learnt.
“We are providing a platform to host our partner entity’s data centre in orbit in the upper stage. This is a natural extension of our rocket, which has already been designed to function in orbit in the upper stage after you eject a satellite. We are now going to work with NeevCloud to repurpose it to host their DC,” Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and CEO, Agnikul Cosmos, told businessline.
Narendra Sen, Founder & CEO of NeevCloud, said in a statement: “To truly democratize AI, we must decouple it from terrestrial limitations. By partnering with Agnikul, we are taking our AI SuperCloud to the ultimate orbit edge - Space.”
The initiative will place high-performance AI inference nodes directly into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), enabling secure, Ultra low-latency intelligence for billions of users and critical industries worldwide, the companies said.
NeevCloud is an Indian entity empowering AI companies all over the world by providing Cloud AI solutions by leveraging cloud-based GPU technology.
In a first
Agnikul and NeevCloud have been in discussions to host the latter’s payload in space and in that process arrived on this decision to align to host DC in space, Ravichandran explains.
Globally, technology companies are exploring the launch of data centres into orbit to address Earth’s power and cooling constraints. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is among companies working actively on this. In India, Agnikul’s capability to host DCs in upper stage may be the first instance of a rocket company doing it.
Agnikul‘s existing architecture is such that the upper stage of their rocket can extend its life in orbit after a satellite is launched. With the patented technology already in place, the start-up has now found an application in repurposing it to host DCs in space.
Agnikul targets a fleet of assets in orbit with AI stacks that form modular Space Data Center Modules (SDCMs). The alliance will help NeevCloud to expand its network to 600+ orbital edge data centers over the next three years.
The right space
In terms of timeline, Agnikul aims to demonstrate a basic prototype of this DC module on a test basis in their upcoming launch in coming months and then go for an actual launch into space by 2027. Following successful validation, NeevCloud will scale the network of 600+ Orbital edge data centers over the next three years.
The idea of setting up a DC in space is getting a lot of interest globally as space will address the aspect of energy availability, environmentally sustainable, and the ability to cool with less cost.
Extending the spent upper stages of rockets reduces potential space debris while maximizing the utility of every launch. Additionally, power from solar can help address the power consumption for the data center, Agnikul said.
The mass of the satellite and other level specs are all in place and both the companies will now work to customise our platforms so that it works well to host a DC in space, Ravichandran added.
Published on February 12, 2026